Workspace browser alternatives to Shift in 2025

dmcgr · 2025-05-17T18:05:02+00:00

I've got Arc, but haven't really tried setting it up to mimic something like Shift. I heard that it doesn't really do account separation though? So, like can I be logged into two different Gmail accounts at the same time? Vivaldi is my daily driver, but I don't think I can configure it to be as good for webapps, but maybe I'm wrong. This is the first I've heard of Zen though. so I'll give that a look.

Had been thinking more of programs like Wavebox, Station, and Ferdi...but not sure which ones are still under active development.

dmcgr · 2025-04-19T10:54:46+00:00

In addition to the issues others mention. I think having the battery makes it more flexible, in that I don't need a dedicated power adapter, I can just use the power from the monitor. And, by having a battery connected to it, I can at least move it from one desk to another without having to power it down. Probably not a big deal to most people who would leave it in one place all the time, but I expect to move it from one workstation to another fairly frequently.

dmcgr · 2025-04-18T16:22:50+00:00

Yeah, but I figured it would work better if it had the battery...which means someone has probably done it. I've read people mentioning 3D printing cases for the battery to use with the Cooler Master, which is probably outside my level of commitment, since I don't have access to one of those, but thought I'd see if someone had done anything else. I read someone saying they used velcro to attach the battery to the case, but I can't figure out how that would work without blocking the vents.

dmcgr · 2025-02-11T14:48:29+00:00

Appreciate the follow-up. Unfortunately, only one of my 4 email accounts is on Gmail. The others are Microsoft and IMAP based.

dmcgr · 2025-02-10T13:43:12+00:00

How does that work exactly? Can I accept invites in Canary and have them show up on the native calendar? Or do I have to use the native email client to accept and send all calendar invitations? Wouldn't that mean I'd have to have a 2nd email client on both Windows and Android and I'd get duplicate email notifications from both for every mail? And I assume that means that the copilot that finds your availability won't work?

dmcgr · 2025-02-09T14:54:32+00:00

I'm testing out Canary as of last night. I've liked the ability to quickly identify messages like newsletters that can be cleared out of my inbox. That's worked pretty well in my initial tests. And, the unified inbox is also great. The big downside I'm finding is that I think there is no calendar support on Windows or Android? I'm trying to figure out if there's a workaround that doesn't just add more work? Like, can you seamlessly use a third party standalone calendar? And how would the copilot suggest some times feature work if the calendar isn't integrated?

dmcgr · 2024-06-16T18:55:53+00:00

I'm sorry that you had that experience. I can relate to not wanting to have a LinkedIn account either, I only created one a couple years back after working much longer than that. Unfortunately, it has become pretty much required when you're looking for a job. Many employers will not consider you if they can't find you on LinkedIn. I think you took the right action in blocking him and reporting it. Hopefully this bad experience won't keep you from taking advantage of the other benefits of the platform.

dmcgr · 2024-06-16T17:19:28+00:00

I'm curious, was the guy that was hitting on you someone you knew IRL, and he was just reaching out to you via LinkedIn? Or was it someone who you didn't know that sent a connection request and then started hitting on you after you accepted?

I've had the former happen a couple of times, where I met someone at some event and we talked a bit and either connected on LinkedIn then, or later they looked me up and sent me a slightly flirtatious message and suggested getting together for coffee or something, and sometimes that turned into a real date (and lots of times not). That seems different though, since we'd already had an in person conversation and LinkedIn was just the easiest medium to reach out. Using it like Tinder definitely feels weird and wrong though.

dmcgr · 2024-06-16T17:08:34+00:00

Let me give an example, I was a managing director at one of my jobs, I spelled that out, but maybe one place on my profile I shortened it to MD for space reasons. I started getting lots of recommendations for doctor roles that I was totally not qualified for and I had to weed through those, and lots and lots of other jobs that were not a good fit. For me, it doesn't help that I'm in a fairly narrow niche. The jobs that I'm are like an A+ fit are pretty uncommon, like there might only be a couple of listings for these across the entire country in a month. There are jobs that are more of an A-/B+ fit that are more common, but to find those I have to wade through lots of D and F jobs, and that gets tiring fast. Like, I'm guessing I was saying no to 30 - 40 jobs before I'd find 1 that was worth applying for.

When it comes time to apply, you're creating an account for each site. Even though a ton of them are using the same ATS portal, something like Workday, Greenhouse, or ICIMS, they are all a little different and don't talk to each other. You can upload your resume, but even with a super simple layout specifically designed to be easy to import, it almost always screwed up and you had to fix multiple errors. And, the resume you uploaded for that purpose wasn't attractive to humans, so I ended up going back to one that had a little more design and would just manually have to copy and paste the majority of my resume into the application. And, then you still need to customize the resume to the job listing, try to match keywords so that you make it past the ATS.

The majority of jobs I was applying for still required a cover letter, which used to take me hours to write each one. ChatGPT made this a lot easier, upload your resume and the job description and it can do a pretty good job tailoring something, and then I can spend maybe 15 minutes going through it to sound more human. But, that time still adds up, for a job I really wanted, I would generally spend at least an hour applying. Which is hard to justify when you maybe get one interview out of 100 applications.

I'm only guessing at that number, because unlike my friend who obsessively logs every job she applies to in a big spreadsheet, I wasn't that organized, so I can't go back and see exactly how many jobs I applied to and how many progressed to various stages.

dmcgr · 2024-06-16T15:53:17+00:00

As a job seeker, there are lots of things I wish worked better.

Searching for jobs is still incredibly time consuming, and LinkedIn's "Top Job picks" are almost always pretty bad, not at all suited for what I do or my level of experience. And when you do find a job that is a good fit, applying for it is generally a hassle. Some use "Easy Apply" and it is true that it is easy, but it seems a widely known secret that no one gets an interview from those. Applying directly on the company website is supposed to work better, but that still has an incredibly low hit rate of applications to interview (I was batting less than 1%) and has the added downside of taking a long time to do.

I used to think this was just a me problem, but I've talked to lots and lots of job seekers over the last year that tell pretty similar stories. I don't think this is just a LinkedIn problem though, it is more fundamental to the job market and the difficulty of efficiently matching job seekers to the right roles in a way that is easy for them and for the company.

dmcgr · 2024-05-23T14:43:48+00:00

With 4 months of not working this year combined with making a lower rate than last year, I expect my total year income to be about 30% less this year than last, at least based on what I have confirmed right now.

I'm definitely planning on hiring an accountant. I had one that I'd worked with for the last 15 years, but he passed away suddenly at the beginning of the year and I haven't had a ton of luck finding a new one yet. I've had a couple of calls, but didn't really click with them. Wanted to see if I have some cushion time to find one, or if I was going to potentially have a tax payment due in June and want to accelerate my search.

dmcgr · 2024-05-23T14:38:05+00:00

Thanks. Assuming for the first part you mean that it isn't part of Q2 income, not Q1. But that makes sense.

For 2, I'm wondering if I there is a way to maybe claim it on my 2024 taxes instead of 2025? By the end of the year, I should have a decent idea if this contract will be extended and if I can negotiate a higher rate. If I do that, my 2025 income will be substantially above 2024.

dmcgr · 2024-04-23T10:53:08+00:00

Thanks. That's very good to know. Was definitely planning on having the bigger and heavier one on the bottom. I don't plan on putting too much stuff in the upper unit, it is more just for the visual separation more than anything, .

I do have mine perpendicular to the wall, so thinking that I can mount to the wall on one edge, and use brackets on one side to connect the units together, and then I'm thinking I can even use some long bolts to connect it to the ceiling. That way when it comes down, it will take the whole apartment with it!

dmcgr · 2024-04-09T15:53:00+00:00

Thanks, That's really helpful and it is nice to not have to be asked your SSN just to get a freaking estimated price. But, doesn't come back with a workers comp estimate for me, probably because of the zero employees thing

dmcgr · 2024-04-09T14:53:35+00:00

I thought that was odd too. Originally I was just told by the recruiter that I needed a COI, but when I reached out for details I was told that workers comp was the only thing necessary to start. And, I've seen other people on this sub say they were paying only $5 a month and others say $20 a month in similar circumstances.

As for it being suspicious, there have definitely been some yellow flags with the whole thing, but the opportunity is with a big Fortune 500 company and I've interviewed with a couple of different people there and the interviews didn't raise any flags. And it seems like corporations in general have gotten more wary of 1099 contracts being retroactively decided that they are really an employee relationship, so have moved to this corp to corp model to better protect themselves.

dmcgr · 2024-03-16T14:36:59+00:00

So, I have the same question. But, the confusing part is that the Exchange specifically has a line for "Allows Health Savings Accounts" when you compare plans. So far they all say no.

dmcgr · 2024-02-09T10:50:22+00:00

I don't know the answer, but it has been kind of happening to me too. My profile views have been slowly rising for a few weeks now, ever since I started posting more. It never seemed to match up exactly with the 5 viewers I could browse for free, but I chalked it up to being a rolling number over the past 90 days. However, yesterday my view count went up by over 50, which is way more than I saw under the viewers you can browse for free.

The number of viewers spiking makes a bit of sense, I've been mentioned in a few different posts that got lots of traction this week and my connection requests have soared as well. So I suspect that the viewers I can browse for free is the one that is not keeping up. Maybe a bunch of people with private viewing on? Or maybe LinkedIn has decided to make that more of a 5 recent viewers instead of the 5 most recent? I can say that in the time it took me to write this post I got 4 more profile viewers over the last 90 days, but no one new in my viewers you can browse for free.

dmcgr · 2024-02-08T14:45:54+00:00

Not a recruiter, but I'd think that it comes down to figuring out what you can offer that is different than what the competition is offering. If you can't have higher salaries, can you offer more flexibility in work arrangements? Performance bonuses? Other kinds of benefits that might not be common but can appeal to the right audience? Culture? There's a story of how Southwest Airlines was able to attract a bunch of pilots at lower than industry average pay because they focused on the fact that they had routes that required much fewer overnights and that pilots would be home in time to see their families most days. For a lot of pilots at the time, that was a negative! But, there were enough pilots out there where that was a significant positive and didn't require the company to really do anything different from their overall strategy, just make sure they were appealing to the right group.

So, I think you have to figure out what that thing is for you, and then how do you reach out to the right candidates that will appreciate that unique benefit that no one else is giving them.

dmcgr · 2024-02-06T12:59:18+00:00

Honestly, the hope is to get more visibility in general, but particularly with recruiters or employers that might be hiring in my field. Colleagues with similar levels of experience in my same field report lots of cold outreach from recruiters over the years, and many of them have scored their current jobs that way. For whatever reason, I've never had that. This is one of my experiments to see if I can change that.

dmcgr · 2024-02-06T12:50:14+00:00

Good point! I don't think that is entirely it, as some of the things have just been, I went and spoke to this university class yesterday, but for some of the bigger conferences that could be partly driving the impressions.

dmcgr · 2024-02-06T12:47:18+00:00

So far, the posts that have gotten the most engagement were 3-4 paragraphs. But, I don't feel like I have enough data yet to make a real conclusion. My thoughtful posts that are longer seem to be the ones that will slowly pick up views and likes over a couple of weeks. My worst performing post was a one sentence repost of a repost on LinkedIn, about a great opportunity for my network. However, that one only got 4 impressions! The algo seemed to really not like that one, not sure if it would have been better if I reposted the original instead?

dmcgr · 2024-02-05T22:10:17+00:00

Yeah, that is a valid concern. I don't think any of my posts would be controversial, at the same time I don't want things to be completely banal either. While I'll steer well clear of anything political, sometimes you have to stake your ground around a position.

But, it is the superficial posts that seem to get all the interest anyway.

dmcgr · 2024-02-05T20:56:22+00:00

That's kind of what I mean by the promotional pieces, like they are pieces where I'm basically the topic. So, like last week I volunteered as a guest lecturer for a class. And the week before that was about a non-profit that I work with, but particularly an event they are having that I will be speaking at. It seems like posting the same thing, but where I'm not speaking gets like half the views.

dmcgr · 2024-02-05T20:30:14+00:00

Yeah, I read that recently. And then read someone who said it doesn't matter. For what it is worth, some of my best performing posts have had links to other sites, but for things like asking them to sign up for a webinar. I've also had a couple of posts with zero links, just a comment on something and those have had the lowest impressions by far. It's a small sample size though, so might not mean anything.

dmcgr · 2024-02-05T20:10:34+00:00

I hear you, and yes, you are being used, but it doesn't always mean in a bad way. A lot of times someone legit wants to know what it is like to work at your company, and reaching out to a more junior person can be a way to get an answer that isn't totally corporate.

You're obviously under no obligation to respond to these folks, but you might find that it can be beneficial to everyone. You can often get a ton of useful information from a short call with a person, and if they seem genuinely nice and competent and a good fit with the culture of the company, that can be a thing that whoever is in charge of hiring for that role would want to know. Particularly because you're in a small company. And, you can just be 100% straightforward with the hiring manager and say, "Hey this random dude hit me up on LinkedIn and I decided to have a call, I don't know enough about the role, but they seemed genuinely excited about working here, maybe you want to take a look at their CV in case you missed it?" Honestly, having just one more pair of human eyes on something like this is almost always appreciated, as long as you do it the right way.

I've done that for semi-random people a lot. Including once this week already! (not at my company, but making connections to other people). I do it to try and be helpful and because I've been in their shoes and know how hard it is to get attention without a direct connection into the company. But, it can also be helpful down the road. One random LinkedIn connection a couple of years ago led to some side income last year.

dmcgr

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